The Godfather II
The Godfather II is a 2009 video game based on The Godfather Part II, a 1974 crime drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and co-written by Coppola and Mario Puzo. The game is published by Electronic Arts and was released on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The Godfather II takes place in the late 1950s and early 1960s over three cities: Havana, Cuba, New York City, and Miami, Florida. Michael Corleone orders the player character, Dominic, to take charge of the family after the death of his New York Don Aldo Trapani, the protagonist and player character of The Godfather: The Game. Now as Dominic, the player leads the family to defeat other, international families and take control of various businesses and crime rings, in order to become the most powerful Don in America. Plot The game begins on December 31, 1958 in Havana, Cuba, 15 years after the events of the first game, and 3 years after the character of the preceding game, Aldo Trapani, is made Don of New York City. Dominic, an underboss in the Corleone family and the main protagonist of the game, is introduced, and the player is then allowed to customize Dominic's physical appearance according to his/her preferences. Michael Corleone, successor to the Corleone empire, is in Havana for a business meeting with Hyman Roth and two other Dons, Rico Granados and Samuele Mangano, as well as Almeida soldier Alejandro Almeida. Owing to the inconvenient moment at which the Cuban Revolution reaches the political center of Havana, any attempts to expand the family venture into Cuba are currently made impossible. As rioting breaks out in the streets, the player is now given control of Dominic, who is ordered to escort Aldo, Michael and Fredo to the airport. Upon arriving at the airport, however, when Aldo breaks down a fence he is blinded by a light while a sniper shoots and kills Aldo. Upon Aldo's demise, Dominic is given a promotion to the now-vacant title of Don of New York City. Six weeks after this incident, two of the Corleone's caporegimes, Carmine and Tony Rosato, reneges on their former side to begin building their own organized crime family. Dominic is then tasked with recruiting underling soldiers and re-acquiring Carmine's newly-owned profit rackets. After Dominic has managed to retake a number of Carmine's rackets, Carmine offers to hold a meeting with Dominic to negotiate for peace. He requests for Dominic and a Corleone caporegime named Frank Pentangeli to present themselves at the meeting venue, a barjoint known as Richie's Tavern. The meeting, however, turns out to be a trap. Dominic manages to escape but Pentangeli is apparently killed. While trying to strangle Pentangeli, one of Carmine's underlings taunts him: "Michael Corleone says hello." The Corleone camp suspects that Carmine was simply covering himself in case the hit failed. After retaking the rest of Carmine's rackets, Dominic kills Carmine and his remaining men at his compound. After the battle, Hyman Roth then calls Dominic and requests him to come to Florida and talk about business. Arriving at Miami, Dominic is greeted and aided by Fredo, who has already been discussing business with Roth. In the meeting at Roth's house, Roth explains that an associate, Steven, was kidnapped by Granados members and that he needs Dominic to free him. Following the rescue, Dominic establishes himself in Miami and takes over all businesses from Tony Rosato, who seeks revenge for Carmine's death, and Rico Granados, and Dominic eventually murders them at their compounds. When Samuele Mangano moves his organization to Miami, Dominic wisely chooses to offer an alliance with them, which Mangano accepts. One day, Fredo calls Dominic to have a drink at Dominic's house, but they are suddenly ambushed. Both Fredo and Dominic survive the machinegun-fire, thanks to Dominic's quick action. Fredo suspects the Mangano family to be the guilty party, and Dominic takes over Global Storage from the Manganos. Furious, the Manganos in turn starts taking over some businesses from the Corleones. Roth introduces Dominic to CIA agent Henry Mitchell, who is plotting to assassinate Castro. Dominic is sent to Havana, while Roth tries to patch things up with the Manganos. Dominic tries to kill Castro with a sniper rifle, but fails, as Don Esteban Almeida had prior knowledge of the assassination attempt and alerted the authorities. It is suggested that Roth is working with Almeida, and set Dominic up because earlier he mutters to Agent Mitchell, "He is a survivor, what did I tell you." When Dominic returns to account his failures to Michael, they learn that Frank Pentangeli is alive, ready to testify against the Corleones at a Senate Investigation into organized crime. Dominic rescues Frank's brother, Vincenzo, from kidnappers, and Vincenzo convinces Frank to recant his testimony. But the family has other problems. Mitchell has gone rogue, and Fredo has unwittingly betrayed Michael, due to Roth's manipulation. With the Senate Hearing out of the way, Michael decides that his enemies need to be eliminated. After killing Mitchell and the other Dons, Dominic travels to his Miami house and Michael tells Dominic that he believes Dominic wants to do one last thing. Go to Miami International Airport and execute Roth. After a tense shootout with Roth's men, airport security and the police, Dominic murders Roth and flees to the Mangano Compound (Which Dominic took over after Samuele Mangano's death). Michael congratulates Dominic on a job well done, and tells him his future in the family is secure. The game ends with a scene where Fredo and another man, seen only in shadow, are fishing on Lake Tahoe, and Fredo is saying a Hail Mary to help him catch a fish. Fredo is killed by the other man, and Dominic's voice can be heard saying "Fredo, I'm sorry." Gameplay Many gameplay elements from the original game returns in the sequel, some expanded and improved. Like the first game, The Godfather II is a third-person shooter taking place in an open world, and both story-based and side missions involve gunplay, hand-to-hand fighting, and driving. However, the sequel features "Black Hand 2.0" control scheme where the player can grab, knee, kick, and head-butt enemies. In a gun fight, the player can use target-lock or freely aim at specific parts of an enemy, and a disarmed or injured enemy can be approached and executed with a unique killing blow that depends on the weapon and the enemy's condition. Each of the weapons in the game, including handguns, shotguns, and machine guns, have its own level and statistics, and the player is be able to purchase licenses to use higher level weapons with more skill. Much emphasis was placed on the squad mechanic, where the player can directly command a group of soldiers to strategically coordinate the attack. In addition, each soldier is able to use a special skill such as hand-to-hand combat or demolition expertise. By using these skills, multiple approaches will be possible when assaulting a business location or a rival family's compound. The Dons View In addition to the third-person action gameplay, the game features a strategy aspect that manages the Corleone criminal empire. In the "Don's View," a strategic overview of the game world, the player can order members of the family to expand or protect his territory. Taking over businesses is the main source of cash and reputation, in addition to the perks from controlling the specific type of business. The player's soldiers can be either ordered to take over the target or directly led by the player himself. This strategic gameplay is said to take up about 20% of the whole game. Rival families will actively attack and sabotage the player's establishments in order to dominate the three cities. To weaken the rival family, businesses under the control of enemies can be attacked and taken over. Also, enemy mafiosos can be shot down during gun battles, but key members will only be critically wounded and return after a period of recovery. In order to remove them for good, the player must gather information and assassinate the target in a particular context relating to the plot of the game. Online Multiplayer The Godfather II features a third-person shooter multiplayer mode that supports up to 16 players online. There are currently 6 maps and 4 gameplay modes announced. Multiplayer matches can be also yield in-game cash and weapon licenses that can be carried over to the single player mode. Families *'Almeida family': The Almeida family are led by Esteban Almeida, a former rebel fighter who fought alongside his brother Ramon and Che Guevara in Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution. Referred to as the Cuban Mafia, the Almeidas are able to operate on Cuba as long as the family does not interfere with political affairs, and they are the only organized crime family operating in the country. Esteban is referred to as violent and ambitious, who remains loyal to Cuba only because of his loyalty to his brother Ramon. *'Corleone family': Originally beginning as an olive oil importer in the 1920s, the Corleone family has since risen and become the most influential family in America. Lead by Michael Corleone and his New York City Don Aldo Trapani, the Corleone family seeks to expand international power over smuggling and gambling. *'Granados family': The Granados family is led by Rico Granados, a man who made his bones through the real estate market, managing both property and loans, that operates in Miami, Florida. Rico was dubbed a Mafioso after he successfully overcame extortionists by eliminating them as a threat, and has since become the top contractor in Miami. In his family are loyal con and hitmen. *'Mangano family': The Mangano family is led by Samuele Mangano, who inherited the crime family from his father. The family is known for its Sicilian roots and follows traditional Mafia code, like Omerta. The family has run the city of Palermo for generations, and continues to hold strong by ruthlessly dispatching challengers. The Manganos are also deeply respected by their community. The Manganos are based in Miami (They move into Miami, purchase a compound and warehouse, get their warehouse taken over after being blamed for something Roth actually did, then took over several Corleone property in Miami) and control two casinos in Havana. *'Rosato Family': Carmine and Tony Rosato were both previously caporegimes in the Corleone family empire. However, once Aldo Trapani was killed, they both left the family and started their own, expanding in New York and in Miami. Carmine remained in New York, and took over rackets and businesses that previously belonged to the Corleone family. Meanwhile, his brother Tony moved down to Florida, to expand their empire there, and establish connections in the new territory. Law *'Police': Much like the first game, "heat" can be managed by bribery. *'CIA': Very close to their depiction in "shadow government" conspiracy theory lore, the player character occasionally does favors for them. *'Cuban Military': Fidel Castro's troops that are encountered in Havana. They are considerably harder to deal with than conventional police. Playstation Home Features EA has released a space for The Godfather II on the PlayStation 3's virtual online world PlayStation Home. This space offers the users five poker tables for "No Limit Texas Hold'em" and the users can check out promotional video and concept art. This space was released on April 9, 2009 in the North American version of PlayStation Home. As an opening day event for the space, the Home Managers had a "Celebrity Poker Night" where the users got to dress their avatars up as celebrities and come to the space to play some poker. External Links *[http://www.ea.com/godfather2/index.jsp The Godfather 2: EA (official website)]